Chapter 18
The next morning, Edward made an appointment to see a counselor. They were able to schedule him for the following afternoon. Although surprised at how quickly he could be seen, he thought it would better to talk to someone sooner rather than later. He spent much of the morning in meetings. This was the only part of his job he found exhausting. Having to sit at a conference table while seemingly pointless information was being spewed out was enough to leave anyone near comatose. Edward knew he needed a break – a vacation that didn’t involve hospitals, chest tubes or terrified night alone spent wondering over issues of life and death. After lunch, he received a phone call. He thought it might be the counselor’s office wanting to reschedule. He picked up the phone and answered with his usual professional demeanor.
“Hello, Edward Drake.”
The voice on the phone sounded very familiar.
“Mr. Drake,” the voice said.
“Yeah, this is Edward Drake,” he said with a touch of impatience. “Who’s this?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already,” the voice said. “And after we had such a nice talk yesterday over pictures of all those children. Am I jogging your memory now, Edward?”
It had only been yesterday, but something in Edward’s mind tried very hard to distract him from those events. After becoming emotional over the sight of badly beaten children, all he wanted to do was put the entire thing behind him. Now, they had come back and he remembered the voice. This time, the technician’s voice sounded dark and sinister, as though there was something else, something important hidden in the conversation. Edward took the cordless phone into a corner.
“I thought we were done,” he said.
He had immediately become stressed and his voice began to reflect his growing hostility.
“Not quite,” the technician said.
“Look!” Edward snapped back. “I took your tests; you drew my blood. As far as I’m concerned, we’re done!”
“You don’t remember do you?” the technician asked.
“I did everything you asked me to do,” Edward said. “Please just leave me alone! I’m hanging up now.”
“Edward,” the technician said. “I told you if there was a problem with your results we’d let you know.”
“Ya know,” Edward replied. “I’m at work right now this call is interfering with my job. Can’t you people just call me at home?”
“I’m afraid this is an urgent matter that requires your immediate attention,” the technician said.
Edward took the phone into his office, sat down and took out a pen and pad.
“Fine, what are the results? I’ll just write everything down and take it to my doctor,” he said.
“Edward, it doesn’t work like that,” the technician said. “You need to come here. This has to be conducted in person.”
“Look,” Edward began. “I’m really busy right now. Can’t you e-mail me the results?” “Edward, you can come down tomorrow morning or I can send a car to the bank to pick you up,” the technician said. “I’m sure you wouldn’t want that. It might be a bit embarrassing, don’t you think?” Up to this point, Edward had come to the belief that the program was there as a benefit to prevention. But, the technician’s tone brought his suspicions back.
“Fine,” he said impatiently. “What time should I be there?”
“Anytime before noon,” the technician said.
The technician hung up without another word, leaving Edward feeling spooked about the entire conversation. He wondered why the technician felt it necessary to be so forceful on the phone. Certainly, a friendly professional request would have been much less intimidating. He spent the rest of the afternoon preoccupied with why it so important that he go back to the screening center. Edward thought he was in perfect health. And aside from the stress, he was going through, he didn’t think there was anything out of the ordinary going on. In fact, he’d never felt better.
Edward left work feeling restless. The nature of his job required an analytical mind. He went over anything that could possibly act as a reason for having to go back. Nothing came to mind. Upon returning home, he noticed Ajna’s car parked at the end of the driveway. He needed to keep himself taking this too seriously. Edward had a strong tendency to worry over things that, in reality, were insignificant. Ajna would tell him he was a typical worry wart. But, in this case, he wanted her professional input. Maybe he had overlooked something. He wondered if his stress level had somehow shown up as a small change in his blood work.
“That must be it,” he thought.
The simplest answers were often the most likely. Reaching this conclusion greatly put him at ease, but he still wanted to bounce the idea off of Ajna. He walked into the front door and found her sitting on the couch watching the news. The state of the world sickened her, but unless she got her daily dose of news Ajna would feel out of touch.
“How was your day?” she asked.
She noticed that he seemed to be a bit more tense than usual.
“Oh, you know,” he said. “Same old shit. How about you?”
“Kinda quiet. A few elderly people and a couple of sick babies,” Ajna answered.
After putting down his briefcase and removing his jacket he sat down next to Ajna.
“I’m pretty healthy, right?” he asked.
“Healthy?” she said. “Physically, you’re in great health. From the neck up you need a little work. Why do you ask?”
“I got a call today from the screening center,” he began. “They want me to go back -- something about my results.”
“O.k. When do they want to see you?” Ajna asked. She had become concerned that his screening may have revealed a problem.
“They wanna see me in the morning,” Edward answered. “Don’t you think that’s a bit weird? So soon after my screening?”
“Not really,” Ajna replied. “They may have found something that needs immediate attention.”
“But, I feel fine,” Edward said.
“Ed,” Ajna began. “There are lots of silent diseases out there – Diabetes, Cancer, certain kinds of heart diseases. This could be very beneficial. You might get a heads up on something that can be treated early.”
Edward gave it a little thought.
“Is it possible that my stress levels could have something to do with this? They did draw some blood,” he said. “Do you think that my blood word could be thrown off by stress?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Ajna said. “Stress can lower your immune response, raise cholesterol levels, change brain chemistry. Stress can be very damaging, both physically and mentally.”
It made perfect sense. Edward had been through a lot and he could feel something building inside him. Perhaps it was a blessing that he went in for his screening. Edward also realized that, for some, the screening process was potentially life-saving. Now, his concern was no longer about being screened or even the idea with the idea of having to go back. He had become concerned about what his results might reveal. If the screening process was all about early intervention, then maybe it wasn’t just a matter of childhood disease prevention. Maybe everyone should be screened. Edward had finally come to terms with his paranoia and understood that the screening held far more potential than the intentions of the ‘well baby initiative’.
The two of them stayed up late. They spent hours lying on the couch together watching movies. They had fallen asleep in each other’s arms, but Edward woke up with a sudden twinge of back pain. He got up to work the stiffness out when he noticed the time. They both needed to get to bed and rather than wake Anja, Edward picked her up from the couch and carried her upstairs. It had been a long time since he had been able to hold her like this. As he picked her up, Edward noticed how light she was. Her skin was soft, yet her tone was firm. Ajna’s long, black hair fell and trailed down toward the floor. He looked down at her sleeping face and was struck by her beauty. He’d always thought of her as the most beautiful woman in the world. But carrying her in his arms brought back fiery memories of the way things were before the shooting. Not that Edward believed that their lives would never return to normal. It just seemed as though it had become a longer journey than he expected.